His opponent on the main card of Saturday night’s “UFC 93: Franklin vs. Henderson” has had no results in the UFC.

And while Denis Kang is far from an MMA rookie, Belcher recently told TAGG Radio (www.taggradio.com), the official radio partner of MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) he believes the American Top Team fighter’s inexperience in the octagon may prove to be the difference in the fight.

“I know [Kang] has fought on a big stage before, but the UFC is totally different,” Belcher said. “If he has that slight hesitation and I can jump on him early, I can use that to my advantage.”

An 11-year veteran of professional MMA, Kang will be making his UFC debut at Saturday’s UFC 93 pay-per-view event from Dublin.

Between 2003 and 2006, Kang went 22-straight official contests without a loss. While Belcher respects Kang’s past accomplishments, he believes the challenges of the UFC may prove a bit too demanding as he begins this new career chapter.

“I don’t want to take anything away from him at all,” Belcher said. “Dennis Kang is a veteran. He was awesome when I sucked, basically. He’s been around for a while, and he’s someone that I’ve looked up to. He’s someone they talked about before as being the No. 1 or No. 2 guy.

“He’s got a lot of skills — wrestling ability and jiu-jitsu, striking. He’s athletic. He’s strong. He’s fit. He’s an awesome fighter. I think that he’s a well-rounded dude. I just think I know his game good enough to exploit it. He knows what I’m going to do, too, but I just don’t think that he can stop it.”

Belcher wasn’t always as confident as he now sounds heading into Saturday night’s contest. But with his back against the wall and badly needing a win, Belcher earned a hard-fought, split-decision win over Ed Herman at UFC Fight Night 15 in Sept. 2008. That win sparked a new feeling for the Mississippi resident.

“In that fight (with Ed Herman) I probably could have performed a little bit better,” Belcher admitted. “But I did what I needed to do to win. I used my jab a lot, my footwork. It was kind of a breakthrough fight for me.

“I kind of had to use the abilities I knew that I had to get the win. That was the most important thing. I went into the fight thinking it was probably going to be a decision because Herman is hard to knock out, hard to finish. I was just planning on doing enough to win. I needed that win, and in the meantime I taught myself how to win fights in the UFC.”

The win was Belcher’s third in his past four fights. And with seven fights in the UFC already under his belt, the 24-year-old is starting to feel he truly belongs in the ranks of the UFC.

“I’m taking a little bit more confidence, this being my eighth fight in the UFC,” Belcher said. “I’m starting to get a feel for the cage in there. Every time it feels a little bit more comfortable. It just takes a while.”

Belcher is so comfortable in his skills, he had no problem discussing his exact gameplan for the fight.

“I don’t really care about giving anything away,” Belcher said. “I’m going to try and keep it standing and use my athleticism and my speed and my footwork. He probably knows I’m going to come at him. He can try all he wants to try and get better, but nothing’s going to happen. He’s still going to be the same fighter, and I’m still going to be improving. I’m the faster, more athletic fighter.

“Basically I think that everybody thinks it’s going to be a great stand-up fight. But I don’t really see it going like that. He’s going to try and get an easy win and take me down. That’s how I see it going. So I’m expecting him to put me on the cage. If he tries to take me down in the middle of the cage, it’s not going to happen. People just can’t take me down in the middle of the cage.”

Despite once being considered among the world’s best middleweights, Kang is just 3-3 in his past six bouts.

Training under legendary kickboxer Duke Roufus, and alongside teammates Patrick Barry and Eric Shafer, Belcher believes he’ll be well-prepared in his attempt to earn a victory over his UFC-newcomer foe.

“If there is any mental weakness in him, I’m definitely going to try and exploit that,” Belcher said. “Hopefully he’s questioning himself if he’s still got it and if he deserves to be there. Maybe I can make those thoughts go through his head early in the fight and get off to a good start against him. That’s my plan.”

This story, written by John Morgan, was produced with TAGG Radio (www.taggradio.com) specially for MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). The show — which is hosted by fighter/broadcaster Frank Trigg, Gorgeous George and ace producer Goze — books some of the biggest names in MMA. Download all the former episodes at www.taggradio.com, or tune into TAGG Radio’s live shows Monday-Friday at noon ET/9 a.m. PT.

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